The Orange County Children's Book Festival is a huge interactive and fun family festival in southern California that invites children of all ages to experience the magic of books. This year's festival is scheduled for Sunday Oct. 4, 2009 from 9:30AM - 4:30PM. The Festival is free to attend and draws 20,000 people. A few of this year's featured authors and illustrators include Robin Preiss Glasser, Frank Beddor, Kathleen Krull, Kathryn Hewitt, Jim Gilbert, Paul Brewer, and Diane Adams.
JacketFlap had a booth at last year's festival, and it was a great success. We will have a booth again at this year's festival, and we're going to use it to help promote the work of our incredible members. We are giving away space in our booth for six people to sign autographs, display, and sell their books. To qualify, you must be a published author or illustrator of children's or young adult books, and at least one of your books has to be listed on your JacketFlap profile in your published works section. How do you enter? All you have to do is post a comment saying "I want the space" on the Event's page on JacketFlap:
http://www.jacketflap.com/eventdetail.asp?Event=1159
Six winners will be randomly selected from the entries between now and August 17th, 2009. If your name isn't selected, don't be too disappointed. JacketFlap's booth will have a flat screen monitor showing a slideshow of our members books. If you have books listed in the published works section of your JacketFlap profile, your books will appear on our monitor throughout the show.
Finally, there is also the opportunity (first come first served) to purchase time in one of the bookstores that are offering 3-hour blocks of time for $75. To find out how you can be a part of this wpnderful event, email the Cofounder and Executive Director Pat Burns - speakr@aol.com or call her Mobile - 949.836.4722. Visit www.KidsBookFestival.com for more information.
Best,
Tracy
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Introducing JacketFlap Chat!
We've just released a new feature - JacketFlap Chat!
JacketFlap Chat lets you:
How to Use JacketFlap Chat
You can start a chat with online members in one of 2 ways:
1) Click the Friends Online link in the chat bar at the bottom of your screen:
This will pop up a list of your JacketFlap friends that are online. Click their name, and a chat window will open where you can chat with that person. Type a message and hit return / enter. They'll hear a beep on their end, and a window will pop up with you message. It's that easy!
2) Look for the new Chat Now link when you're viewing someone's profile. The Chat Now link is only visible when the person is online. Click Chat Now, and a chat window will open where you can chat with that person.
Receiving Notifications
In addition to chatting, the Chat Bar contains a Notifications alert system. When you receive a notification, you'll see the Notifications icon change colors to the right of the number of Friends Online. Click that icon, and a list of your new notifications will pop up.
Currently, you'll get notifications every time someone leaves a comment on your profile, invites you to be a friend, accepts your friend invitation, or sends you a message using the Send Email link on your profile. Please let us know if there's any other notifications we should add to the list.
Updating your Chat Preferences
By default, the only people that can chat with you are people on your JacketFlap friends list. However, you can also choose to allow the Chat Now link to be visible when you are online to all members or just certain types of members. To set your chat preferences, click the Account Settings link in the upper-left of JacketFlap. Then, scroll down to the JacketFlap Chat section to se your Chat preferences. Be sure to click the Save profile settings button when you are done.
For more information about JacketFlap Chat, you can read the JacketFlap Chat FAQ.
Please send us any feedback to info@jacketflap.com.
Happy chatting!
Tracy
JacketFlap Chat lets you:
- See which of your JacketFlap friends are online now
- Chat live with your online JacketFlap friends
- Leave messages for your offline friends
- Visit friends' profiles or send offline messages
- Share pages you are viewing while you chat
- Get friends' activity updates as they happen
You can start a chat with online members in one of 2 ways:
1) Click the Friends Online link in the chat bar at the bottom of your screen:
This will pop up a list of your JacketFlap friends that are online. Click their name, and a chat window will open where you can chat with that person. Type a message and hit return / enter. They'll hear a beep on their end, and a window will pop up with you message. It's that easy!2) Look for the new Chat Now link when you're viewing someone's profile. The Chat Now link is only visible when the person is online. Click Chat Now, and a chat window will open where you can chat with that person.
Receiving NotificationsIn addition to chatting, the Chat Bar contains a Notifications alert system. When you receive a notification, you'll see the Notifications icon change colors to the right of the number of Friends Online. Click that icon, and a list of your new notifications will pop up.
Currently, you'll get notifications every time someone leaves a comment on your profile, invites you to be a friend, accepts your friend invitation, or sends you a message using the Send Email link on your profile. Please let us know if there's any other notifications we should add to the list.Updating your Chat Preferences
By default, the only people that can chat with you are people on your JacketFlap friends list. However, you can also choose to allow the Chat Now link to be visible when you are online to all members or just certain types of members. To set your chat preferences, click the Account Settings link in the upper-left of JacketFlap. Then, scroll down to the JacketFlap Chat section to se your Chat preferences. Be sure to click the Save profile settings button when you are done.
For more information about JacketFlap Chat, you can read the JacketFlap Chat FAQ.
Please send us any feedback to info@jacketflap.com.
Happy chatting!
Tracy
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Amazing blog events during National Poetry Month
Hi everyone!
As you may know, April is National Poetry Month. Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996, National Poetry Month brings together publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools, and poets around the country to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. To keep up on all the latest posts, be sure to bookmark JacketFlap's blog reader tag page for the keyword poetry.
Here are some examples of the blogs you'll want to visit every day in April and the really fantastic ways they're celebrating National Poetry Month:
Greg Pincus at GottaBook has put together a really fun celebration - the first annual 30 Poets/30 Days. Every day in April, he'll be posting a previously unpublished poem by a different poet. Here's the alphabetical list of who's participating:Arnold Adoff, Jaime Adoff, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Douglas Florian, Betsy Franco, Kristine O'Connell George, Charles Ghigna, Nikki Giovanni, Joan Bransfield Graham, Nikki Grimes, Mary Ann Hoberman, Lee Bennett Hopkins, X. J. Kennedy, Bruce Lansky, Julie Larios, J. Patrick Lewis, Pat Mora, Kenn Nesbitt, Linda Sue Park, Ann Whitford Paul, Gregory K. Pincus, Jack Prelutsky, Adam Rex, Jon Scieszka, Joyce Sidman, Marilyn Singer, April Halprin Wayland, Janet Wong, and Jane Yolen. Visit 30 Poets/30 Days and follow 30poets30days on Twitter.
Poetry Makers Series - At the Miss Rumphius Effect, Tricia Stohr-Hunt will be featuring interviews with 36 children's poets: Kenn Nesbitt, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Avis Harley / Ann Whitford Paul, Joyce Carol Thomas, J. Patrick Lewis, Janet Wong, Joseph Bruchac, Ralph Fletcher / Steven Schnur, Jane Yolen, Linda Ashman / Julie Larios, Adam Rex, Marilyn Singer, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Georgia Heard, Joyce Sidman, Paul Janeczko, Arnold Adoff / Jaime Adoff, Joan Bransfield Graham, Bobbi Katz, Kristine O’Connell George, Jorge Argueta, Carole Boston Weatherford, Betsy Franco, Lisa Westberg Peters / Laura Purdie Salas, Calef Brown, Marilyn Nelson, Helen Frost / Sara Holbrook, Douglas Florian, Mary Ann Hoberman, and Pat Mora.
At Poetry For Children, Sylvia Vardell will be reviewing a new children's poetry book every day.
At the Pencil Talk blog, Anastasia Suen will be collecting school poems written by children throughout April, and she's posting one each day.
And, of course, there's Poetry Friday every week. Keep checking searching JacketFlap's blog reader for the keyword poetry all throughout April to see the latest posts.
Enjoy!
Tracy
Monday, March 30, 2009
How to Filter your My Updates page
An often requested feature from JacketFlap's members has been the ability to filter the content in our My Updates page. I'm happy to report that we've added that feature. You can now use the links in the left column of your My Updates page to see just specific types of updates. For those of you not already using My Updates, just try clicking the My Updates link in the upper-right corner of any page on JacketFlap while you are logged in.For example, to see pictures recently added by your friends, click the "Pictures added" link. To see books that your friends are reading, you can click the "Books added" link. By default, the updates displayed are those added since you last logged in to JacketFlap. You can also change the time period by changing the "Since" pull-down menu to a different time period. For example, change the Since time period to "Past week" and click the "New blog posts" link to see the blog posts by your friends in the past week. Updates also work for more than just your friends. You can see updates made by choosing Member Updates under the Community tab in our main navigation bar.
On a related note, we've also removed the updates posted when I personally add someone to my friends list. That means you should no longer see a stream of updates like "Tracy Grand added Jane Doe to her friends list". I know those were a bit overwhelming! Please post a comment here if you have any thoughts on the new feature.
Tracy
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Congratulations to Children's Choice Award finalists - get the widget!
The finalists for the 2009 Children's Choice Book Awards were recently announced. I'm excited to say that books illustrated by three of JacketFlap's members are among the finalists! Please join me in congratulating the three finalists by clicking their names below and leaving a congratulations comment on their profiles:
Voting for the finalists is now open. Children and teens are able to cast their vote for their favorite books, author, and illustrator at bookstores, school libraries, and online until Sunday, May 3, 2009. Close to 15,000 children and teens from around the US spent months reading and evaluating books submitted by publishers. The five favorite books published in 2008 in each of these categories are open for a nation-wide vote in March and April 2009 in each of four grade categories: K-2nd, 3rd-4th, 5th-6th, and Teen as well as Favorite Author, and Favorite Illustrator. The winner in each category will be named at a gala during Children's Book Week on May 12th, 2009 in New York City as part of Children's Book Week (May 11-17, 2009), the oldest national literacy event in the United States.
To enhance the awareness of the awards, the Children's Book Council is working with JacketFlap again this year to create a Children's Choice Book Awards Widget, which you can see below:
The Widget displays a different finalist book every time it loads on a web site or blog, and there are links where people can learn more about the books and the nominees or click to vote. You can get the Widget for your own blog or web site here:
http://www.jacketflap.com/widgets/widget.asp?widgetname=cbc2
Please spread the word to children so they can vote. Remember, voting ends May 3, 2009!
Tracy
Willow, illustrated by Cyd Moore
Voting for the finalists is now open. Children and teens are able to cast their vote for their favorite books, author, and illustrator at bookstores, school libraries, and online until Sunday, May 3, 2009. Close to 15,000 children and teens from around the US spent months reading and evaluating books submitted by publishers. The five favorite books published in 2008 in each of these categories are open for a nation-wide vote in March and April 2009 in each of four grade categories: K-2nd, 3rd-4th, 5th-6th, and Teen as well as Favorite Author, and Favorite Illustrator. The winner in each category will be named at a gala during Children's Book Week on May 12th, 2009 in New York City as part of Children's Book Week (May 11-17, 2009), the oldest national literacy event in the United States.
To enhance the awareness of the awards, the Children's Book Council is working with JacketFlap again this year to create a Children's Choice Book Awards Widget, which you can see below:
The Widget displays a different finalist book every time it loads on a web site or blog, and there are links where people can learn more about the books and the nominees or click to vote. You can get the Widget for your own blog or web site here:
http://www.jacketflap.com/widgets/widget.asp?widgetname=cbc2
Please spread the word to children so they can vote. Remember, voting ends May 3, 2009!
Tracy
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Enter JacketFlap's contest for space at the Orange County Children's Book Festival
Hi everyone!
As you may know, The Orange County Children's Book Festival is a huge interactive and fun family festival in southern California that invites children of all ages to experience the magic of books. The Fifth Annual Orange County Children's Book Festival is scheduled for Sunday Oct. 5, 2008 from 10:00AM - 4:00PM. The Festival is free to attend and draws 18,000 people. A few of this year's featured celebrity and popular authors are Jamie Lee Curtis, Gary Soto, and Barney Saltzberg; and Guy Gilchrist and Steve Gray are two featured illustrators.
JacketFlap will have a booth at this year's festival, and we're going to use it to help promote the work of our incredible members. We are giving away space in our booth for six people to sign autographs, display, and sell their books. To qualify, you must be a published author or illustrator of children's or young adult books, and at least one of your books has to be listed on your JacketFlap profile in your published works section. How do you enter? All you have to do is post a comment saying "I want the space" on the Event's page on JacketFlap.
Six winners will be randomly selected from the entries between now and September 19th, 2008. If your name isn't selected, don't be too disappointed. We'll also have a flat screen monitor showing a slideshow of our members books. If you have books listed in the published works section of your JacketFlap profile, your books will appear on our monitor throughout the show.
If you want to purchase space in this year's festival, authors, illustrators and storytellers have the opportunity to participate on one of three presentation stages, personal and/or shared exhibitor booths and in one of three book stores. Contact the Festival organizers (see below) for how you can bring your books to thousands of families in southern California. We're told that the spaces are almost full, so hurry up!
Exhibitor Booths are fully enclosed with three walled. As a (full booth) exhibitor you'll be posted in the Festival guide. You will also be given a 6 X 1 foot name banner, a table, two chairs and a waste paper basket. Everything is included at a cost of $495 plus all day exposure to thousands of families. Authors (up to two) are permitted to share a booth. Martha's Bookstore is featuring author book signings for three hours time slots for $75.
To find out how you can be apart of this extraordinary event, email the Cofounder and Executive Director Pat Burns - speakr@aol.com or call her Mobile - 949.836.4722. Visit www.KidsBookFestival.com for more information. You can also see a short video about the Festival on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7EKVYZqCTY
Best,
Tracy
As you may know, The Orange County Children's Book Festival is a huge interactive and fun family festival in southern California that invites children of all ages to experience the magic of books. The Fifth Annual Orange County Children's Book Festival is scheduled for Sunday Oct. 5, 2008 from 10:00AM - 4:00PM. The Festival is free to attend and draws 18,000 people. A few of this year's featured celebrity and popular authors are Jamie Lee Curtis, Gary Soto, and Barney Saltzberg; and Guy Gilchrist and Steve Gray are two featured illustrators.
JacketFlap will have a booth at this year's festival, and we're going to use it to help promote the work of our incredible members. We are giving away space in our booth for six people to sign autographs, display, and sell their books. To qualify, you must be a published author or illustrator of children's or young adult books, and at least one of your books has to be listed on your JacketFlap profile in your published works section. How do you enter? All you have to do is post a comment saying "I want the space" on the Event's page on JacketFlap.
Six winners will be randomly selected from the entries between now and September 19th, 2008. If your name isn't selected, don't be too disappointed. We'll also have a flat screen monitor showing a slideshow of our members books. If you have books listed in the published works section of your JacketFlap profile, your books will appear on our monitor throughout the show.
If you want to purchase space in this year's festival, authors, illustrators and storytellers have the opportunity to participate on one of three presentation stages, personal and/or shared exhibitor booths and in one of three book stores. Contact the Festival organizers (see below) for how you can bring your books to thousands of families in southern California. We're told that the spaces are almost full, so hurry up!
Exhibitor Booths are fully enclosed with three walled. As a (full booth) exhibitor you'll be posted in the Festival guide. You will also be given a 6 X 1 foot name banner, a table, two chairs and a waste paper basket. Everything is included at a cost of $495 plus all day exposure to thousands of families. Authors (up to two) are permitted to share a booth. Martha's Bookstore is featuring author book signings for three hours time slots for $75.
To find out how you can be apart of this extraordinary event, email the Cofounder and Executive Director Pat Burns - speakr@aol.com or call her Mobile - 949.836.4722. Visit www.KidsBookFestival.com for more information. You can also see a short video about the Festival on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Best,
Tracy
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Zoom! JacketFlap is MUCH faster now!
We've been hard at work for the last several weeks improving the software that powers JacketFlap. I don't know about you, but for me, the speed increase is incredible! Pages that took 10 - 20 seconds to load last week now load in less than a second. We have a bunch of new features that we'll be releasing shortly, but we want to be sure the overall site is as fast as possible first. Please leave a comment here if you run into a slow-loading pages or other problems, and we'll get them fixed ASAP.
Thanks!
Tracy
Thanks!
Tracy
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